I read that as "more and more men are becoming mid-wives"

:(

Who needs a wife when you got altar boys?

Refuge for the Can't-Get-Laid.

My dad became a minister at 42, he's now 51 and glad he's done with that BS.

"I love Jesus, but the people who associate with him are assholes."

Sadly, I believe it has more to do with being the ghey and not being able to accept it than it has to do with finding religion.

Go for the Easy Money! And then get the 'vette and the price!

It is better selling non-excisting, non-returnable products thru a Jesus franchise!

God - What a scam!

There are a lot of women who go into the nunnery in their 50s or so. I think the hormones fizzle out and they're already religious anyway. Its nice, though. They're running out of clergy people. May as well get them from somewhere.

Kids just don't like corvettes as much as they used to.

TheDeathMerchant: My dad became a minister at 42, he's now 51 and glad he's done with that BS.
"I love Jesus, but the people who associate with him are assholes."


Well of course, organized religion is all about politics.

MrHacks: SEVEN houses

NINE houses

FTFY

a few years ago our local pbs radio station had a monk from a local monastery on to promote some music he'd recorded. the majority of the calls weren't interested in the music so much as how to go about joining a monastery and what daily life was like as a monk.
what really surprised me were the number of men calling who were married and whose kids were already out on their own who wanted to become monks.

Old and Busted?
New Hottness?

KiloFoxtrotCharlie: Old and Busted?
New Hottness?

WUT?

Pharque-it: KiloFoxtrotCharlie: Old and Busted?
New Hottness?

WUT?

Priesthood is the ultimate popped collar.

Did somebody say trophy wife?

Society sucks donkey sack. Submitting your daily rituals to the will of an Abbot is more desirable than watching Sarah Palin win the US Presidency even though she's not running for President. I think anyone who would rather be living in the suburbs during this election instead of living in a monastery where they get room and board to contemplate meaningful things and work for local social justice causes has got their priorities wrong.

Everyone should be contemplating meaningful things and working for the betterment of the universe, but it just isn't very easy in the suburbs with a 9-5 go nowhere job and an unimaginative mate. Once the good things in life like kids and education are done with, why would anybody waste their remaining time with crap? Monasteries are kickass alternatives.

They're doing it to meet women.

Oh yeah, she's drinking his milkshake.

Good for them.

Have you seen the price of trophy wifes lately? It's outrageous!

I dunno, I can sort of see the appeal of this type of life. There is something to be said for a quiet life of ritual and service. Too bad I'm not religious.

Marketing has us believing total euphoria is only one more purchase away. Trying to find happiness through booze and sex hasn't done me any favors, financially or healthwise.

Maybe when some guys reach a certain age and realize that they won't ever have the megayacht or the model wife they try to find happiness some other way. And some of them choose this kind of life.

Or they are covering up teh ghey.

Geez. Talk about a statement on humanity when we get to a point where having looked around and been there done that, people would prefer to live alone rather than paired off. Clearly, humans need much more work on how to live in relationships if they've become that unattractive. Nothing wrong with dedicating oneself to a meaningful/higher purpose, but if you've gotta shiatcan romantic companionship to do so, it's a sad state if you actually choose that.

Their exWs must be total biatches. Who knows, maybe they were no prize to live with either.

It's_A_Farking_Secret:
Their exWs must be total biatches. Who knows, maybe they were no prize to live with either.

Or maybe in some cases, their wives have already left by transfer to the church triumphant, and knowing that they will find no other woman to replace her, these men devote their lives to the service of God. Being a priest would ensure steady work and something interesting to do with your life, if you have the gift for it.

You just don't know how tempting it is to toss all this shiat and become a monk.

Do they have a health plan?

TheDeathMerchant
My dad became a minister at 42, he's now 51 and glad he's done with that BS.

"I love Jesus, but the people who associate with him are assholes."


i LOL'D

I would join a monastery and become a monk. The trade-off of being celibate to make good beer sounds good to me.

Oh wait that's what I do already.

Please read (or at least watch) The Name of the Rose before you run off and join a monastery.

OK?

Proctologist Iggy Poop
When I was a kid, I knew a Catholic priest who wore hand-tailored black priest suits (complete with the Roman collar) and bought a brand new Chrysler New Yorker Sedan every two years, like clockwork.
Of course it was black, to match his vestments- and the paint was shined until it gleamed like the patent-leather shoes of a Catholic schoolgirl. Being young and naive, I asked him about all this, in relation to his priestly Vow of Poverty. His answer? "Oh, I come from a wealthy family, and they buy all this stuff for me. It would be rude and Unchristian for me not to accept my family's gifts, don't you think?"
I suspect that he didn't quite get the concept...

I've observed similar situations, with different explanations for the cause.
One of the nuns at my parochial school told me about her wealthy dad who liked to give her nice jewelry. She would accept it, but then would donate it to the church . . . (why didn't she just ask her dad to give make cash donations in her name?)
And the priest drove a very nice Cadillac, which we were told that a car dealership in the parish had donated to him so that he could carry out his transportation needs. The dealership could have given him something more frugal, and donated the remaining balance to the church in cash, right? But I guess the owner of the dealership liked seeing his priest get around in style.
Likewise, the local country club gave the priest a complimentary membership. I guess the country club just liked the ability to tee off with the priest, it gave him the ability to associate with the congregation in a comfortable setting.
So, when I see a priest with the nice trimmings, I just figure it's part of the prestige that comes with the territory.

More and more men are becoming priests at mid-life. What ever happened to buying a Corvette and finding a trophy wife?

Mid-life is a time when many re-examine the basis on which they lived the first half of their life, and consider what they will do with the second half.

Going off in a completely new direction is common. People want to live the second half of their life differently. Why just do the first half over?

So the quiet well behaved ones cut lose, split from their spouse and party. While the depraved ones find God and join a church.

Of course some just open another beer and change the channel.

They saw what happened to all those guys after the trophy wife took them to court and got the Corvette, both houses and 150% of the bank account, plus the film and book rights.

After getting a couple friends through that, chastity, poverty and obedience probably looks like a cakewalk.

I think it would be nice to have the magic powers of a priest.

Gyrfalcon: They saw what happened to all those guys after the trophy wife took them to court and got the Corvette, both houses and 150% of the bank account, plus the film and book rights.

After getting a couple friends through that, chastity, poverty and obedience probably looks like a cakewalk.

I have nothing to add, except I read your profile and I think I like you.

In a straight way.

Do you have a newsletter? Can I subscribe?

Akessamenos: Gyrfalcon: They saw what happened to all those guys after the trophy wife took them to court and got the Corvette, both houses and 150% of the bank account, plus the film and book rights.

After getting a couple friends through that, chastity, poverty and obedience probably looks like a cakewalk.

I have nothing to add, except I read your profile and I think I like you.

In a straight way.

Do you have a newsletter? Can I subscribe?

Seconded.

OrangeMandrake: Refuge for the Can't-Get-Laid.

Exactly. Once your partner gets over her 'broody' time and succumbs to that poison poured into her mind from her overly-prudish parents that "sex is dirty and disgusting" she'll shut her legs for good.

Yet she'll still expect you to be 'faithful'. And then convince themselves that it ain't so.

And she'll always pull out the figurative "Big Book of Lame Excuses Not To Have Sex" whenever you 'want it'.

Men cope by: getting a mistress, buying the Corvette, joining a monastery or the priesthood, etc.

I guess the solution is if her parents are prudes, find someone else.

TheDeathMerchant: My dad became a minister at 42, he's now 51 and glad he's done with that BS.

"I love Jesus, but the people who associate with him are assholes."

Better to start your own religion. Screw all the established ones. Try to pick up a nice church or monastery in foreclosure.

I'm looking forward to my mid-life crisis. I'll get a convertible & a blond.

In my case that will be an open-topped Jeep & a golden retriever.

Altar boys.

A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but she's obviously not FIRST prize

As someone who used to be a trophy wife I'm getting a real kick...

/no
//they're just doing it to guarantee they'll be getting sex in their old age.

It's not just Catholics that are seeing this change. I attend a Methodist seminary (despite me not being Methodist) and we have a sizable population of Second-Career-ers. Percentage wise I'd say 20% or so are at least in their late 30's on up to their 70's in one case. We have everything from former lawyers, computer engineers, business people, former military, you know its there. They all have different reasons and being Protestant some are married so the whole "losers who can't get laid" thing doesn't apply.

It's an interesting dynamic but let me tell you this. No one is more convinced that God wants them to be in seminary than Second Careers. No one. They left a perfectly good job because God TOLD THEM. No question about it and if you dare to question it they will attack you. I already learned that lesson. None of the ones I know actively talk about a midlife crisis but instead about dissatisfaction with their jobs, lives, whatever and thinking about what God wanted them to do with themselves. A revelation or two later and they are in school doing God's will with a vengeance.

/did not hear God tell him to go to school. Wanted to do it on my own. Just for the record.

perdu: A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but she's obviously not FIRST prize

It took awhile, but there it is. Thread winner.

Ser Kheru: It's not just Catholics that are seeing this change.

It's not just Christians. Quite a few Hindus will leave their families to accept a renounced order of life.

So when getting tail becomes to expensive, just become celibate?
Or a rapist.

Next story: More and more men becoming rapists after mid-life.

Why become a priest when you can become a Pope of the SubGenius?

rathoth:
Next story: More and more men becoming rapists after mid-life.

No, it's the same story.

What ever happened to buying a Corvette and finding a trophy wife?

Some people find a trophy boy more appealing.

Positive development IMO. We need more priests and this means we're getting priests with a lot of life experience in the secular world who can better relate to laypeople.

personal guess? People are getting their happiness from nice cars and flatscreen TVs younger and then when they hit midlife it ceases to be effective.

This is what happened to a lot of the Catholic priests in my parish. One was a CPA, one was a corporate lawyer, one was a software engineer. And they all got called one way or another.